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Solomons believes job is safe

Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons insists that his position is not under threat, despite Edinburgh’s terrible start to the Pro12 season.

Edinburgh head coach Alan Solomons insists that his position is not under threat, despite Edinburgh’s terrible start to the Pro12 season.

Edinburgh have won just one of their five games this season and were thrashed 30-0 by Ulster at Ravenhill on Friday, just two weeks after shipping 62 points at Ospreys.

A loss at home to Connacht and a draw with Scarlets means they have yet to win at Murrayfield this term.

“No, I don’t think so at all. You have to keep the game in context and keep a perspective on things. Ulster are very strong” replied Solomons when asked if his job was in danger after the drubbing in Belfast.

“We had a 14-4 penalty count against us,” added the South African, was has recruited heavily from his home country.

“The turning point in that game was the yellow card (to captain Mike Coman ) that was given and the succession of mauls that took place straight after that, which led to two tries – I think then the game has gone.

“So I think the yellow card was a massive thing and the penalty count was a massive thing.”

Solomons did not point a finger at the referee, but said they would watch the video of the match closely.

“We will review the game carefully and we’ll go through the proper channels as always,” he said.

“It is a heavy penalty count, but we’ve got to look at it.

“We had four penalties at scrum time and a free-kick against us at scrum time. So it makes it very difficult when you are on the back end of a big penalty count like that to play, especially a very strong side.

“We missed a number of key players who could not play because of player management issues – Dave Denton didn’t play, Matt Scott didn’t play, Grant Gilchrist went off at half-time and Dougie Fife didn’t play.

“When we play these top teams, especially in away fixtures, it’s important that we have our key major international players playing for us.”